Cheryl Speirs
Cannonvale
My concern, being the owner of a fairly large cleaning company, are the amount of displaced people that I’ve seen in the last two years, but especially the last six to eight months. There’s a real crisis for housing for people on low income. The cost of everything else has gone up, and it’s gone up exponentially.
I’ve heard of people living in cars. The government needs to do either or: address affordable housing, rentals especially, or the price of living in this country. They need to address the homelessness situation because it’s out of control.
John Cunningham
Cannonvale
What the government can do is increase the minimum wage. Pensioners I know are travelling alright, but we’re still paying high rents and we need a bit more. They need to help the homeless, too. Once upon a time it was preferable to buy than rent and now people can’t afford to buy, let alone to rent.
Give people a subsidy of some sort – a genuine one for people who really need it, or places that can be turned into emergency housing. You can’t blame the landlords, they’re in it for the money too and following the markets.
Mark Rose
Cannonvale
Everything is going up. Do we really need to pay a thousand dollars on a car registration, that much money in rates? You just about need to have a high-income job to continue to exist. Those big bills that people don’t want and are not looking forward to each year.
I’m paying $1,600 dollars each year in rates; where’s that money go? Why am I paying that much money? Everything is a thousand dollars: rego on a six-cylinder car. It won’t be long that, if you don’t have a high-end job, you won’t be able to afford a motor car. Surely, they can do something to change it.
Kirsten Robson and Zoe Bowley
Cannonvale
Zoe: More support in terms of buying your first home. Helping people get into the housing market. They need more support. Property prices are so ridiculous that its scary to think: what’s the next generation going to experience if we’re struggling?
Kirsten: If we struggled so hard to get in, how are they ever going to do it? We’ve managed to buy our first homes, but it wasn’t easy. It’s been a big issue for everyone, I think. Some people aren’t even able to afford rent, so how can they think about starting their lives?
Heather Brown
Collinsville
Living in a rural mining town doesn’t mean we are all rich coal miners. Something needs to be done about the constant rises in fuel, groceries and rent. The increase in community members seeking emergency food relief and food vouchers has hit an all-time high. Our community hub is struggling to keep up with the demand. There needs to be rent and mortgage rate caps for owner occupiers. Every goods and service that we need to survive and thrive should be taken out of the control of people who only see a means to augment their own wealth.
Leanne Abernethy
Bowen
As the tourism industry in Bowen relies so heavily on the drive market, the price of petrol is certainly a major issue. The fuel excise was reduced by the Federal Government at the end of March but only for six months. The rate was reduced to 22.1 cents per litre but motorists are still paying more than 40 cents per litre for fuel than they were this time last year. I believe a continued reduction in fuel excise would be welcomed by tourists and locals.
Sydney Moxham
Proserpine
Cost of living; that’s a big one. A good question – it’s hard and the position [the government are] in, what the hell can they really do about it? It’s worldwide, that’s the problem. Federal Government can’t really do anything about some of the things that would affect it. The state government is the bigger problem than federal with their charges like rates and registration. We should have one government, that’s it, we have too many!
There are a few things they control but not the things that count. It’s been too late for too long. We’re in big trouble.
Daniel Lever
Proserpine
I actually don’t have an answer; it’s a great question. If you push the minimum wage up it may get worse – people will charge more for other things. It’s a tough position because what do you do? House prices, rent, groceries are going up, but why are they going up? Is it because of the whole Covid situation and extra money in circulation pushing the prices of everything up? How do you fix something that’s already been done? Raise interest rates and make money harder to get? That may just make it worse too. It all may just be something that we can’t undo.
